Moslems, Hindus and Buddhists join Pope at Mass in Jakarta

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JAKARTA, Indonesia, Dec. 3 — Pope Paul VI arrived in the capital of overwhelmingly Mos lem Indonesia today and cele brated mass tonight in an ecu menical spirit that took full ad vantage of the national, linguis tic and religious variety of this island nation.

Early tomorrow, the 73‐year old Pontiff is to fly on to Hong Kong. After a three‐hour stop there and a brief call in Colom bo, Ceylon, he is to return to Rome from his longest and most arduous journey abroad.

[Pope Paul VI arrived in Hong Kong Friday for a three‐hour and 20‐minute afternoon visit. He was greeted as he descended, smiling, from his jetliner by the acting Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Hugh Norman Walker, and the Roman Cath olic Bishop of Hong Kong, the Most Rev. Francis Shu. He later conducted a mass for 40,000 Catholics at a stadium in Hong Kong.]

Used Their Greeting

In the brightly illuminated Senajan stadium at the edge of Jakarta, built by the Soviet Union in the neutralist days of the late President Sukarno, Pope Paul officiated at the mass during which he greeted at the altar representatives of the Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist and Protestant faiths and exchanged gifts with them. To the Bud dhist monks who came to sa lute him, the Pope raised hip hands, palms joined in the greeting of their religion.

Following the procession of non‐Catholics, an even longer line of youths and girls dressed in the infinitely varied and strongly colored costumes of the many islands of Indonesia mounted the steps to present offerings that will be turned over to the poor of the Arch diocese of Jakarta.

As the Pope enterd the huge, modern sports complex, which seats 110,000 but was less than half‐full, he drove slowly around the track surrounding) the three infields while mounted cavalrymen in green uniforms and black berets rode in a phalanx around his open car.

Meanwhile, sword dancers from Celebes and from Flores, actors in the traditional pano ply of the Javanese religious theater, masked men with swords and shields from Su matra, their faces painted red, and Javanese youths on bam boo horses were doing their native rites around the edge.

Javanese animists displayed the traditional, artfully ar ranged decoration of food and flowers to their pagan house hold gods.

Fife‐and‐Drum Corps

A large fife and drum corps of girls from Catholic schools, led by a prancing, red‐booted majorette, marched American style around the arena to Dutch and German marching songs.

Few of the performers were of the Pontiff's faith, and most of their rites were strictly pa gan.

But during the mass, the Scriptures were read in Indo nesian by young people in the costume of Timor and Java, and 300 Indonesian and mis sionary priests, mainly Dutch, went through the crowd of fering communion.

In his sermon, Pope Paul em phasized the theme that was illustrated by the diversity of national displays. He said:

“The Christian is no stran ger among his own people. He shares with them all their hon orable customs. As a good cit izen he should love his native land.” Throughout his journey, the Pope has emphasized that Christianity is not the West ern faith but universal.

When he stepped from his plane this afternoon on arri val from Sydney, the Pope was greeted by a small and polite crowd consisting largely of priests, nuns, schoolchildren, journalists, officials and diplo mats, including the Ambassa dors from the Soviet Bloc.

He was warmly greeted by President Suharto, a Javanese Moslem, who praised religious tolerance in a country in which 85 percent of the population of 120 million is at least nom inally Moslem.

In streets with no welcom ing banners and only a few flags, through which the Pope drove to the cathedral built by the Dutch in their style, were nearly empty but for normal traffic. Passersby looked up in puzzlement at the motorcade. When it stopped at the Papal Nunciature, where the Pontiff spent the night, a man who stood watching said the man in red with the white skullcap must be “a guest.”

There were no signs of hos tility from Moslem extremists, as some had feared. A mem ber of the Indonesian Episco pate was gratified to note Moslem delegation paid its re spects to the Pope at the mass and presented a copy of the Koran bound in carved wood. “Perhaps we are burying the hatchet,” a bishop said.

There are probably nearly three million Catholics in In donesia. However, in an inter view, Justin Cardinal Darmo kowoni said he thought there were only two million.

The hierarchy is believed to be cautious in claiming the full number of conversions in re cent years because the bulk are believed to be Chinese who adopted Catholicism during the blood baths of 1965 to es cape anti‐Chinese mobs.

A version of this archives appears in print on December 4, 1970, on Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Moslems, Hindus and Buddhists join Pope at Mass in Jakarta. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe